I've been to DC before and I truly was surprised at how nice their subway system is. It's really the only subway I've been in before where the seats resemble a bus more than a bench. I haven't been on subways in different cities too much so that is probably why the DC one surprised me so much but it really was great. Incredibly clean too!

Boston is ok, except the Green lines C,D,E during Red Sox games and the Green B line everyday. I haven't lived in Boston for a few years, but sometimes I am overcome with T-Rage (what we called frustration with the Boston T) just from the memory of the B line.

You've obviously never been on the B line at 10pm in January on the way out toward Cleveland Circle when they kick everyone off because they want to take the train out of service. OR sat waiting for a D line while 5 C lines go by at Hines. Or waited an hour for the last train on a Saturday night before realizing that the train will never arrive and you have to fight with the rest of the thousands of drunks for one of the 5 cabs downtown, before giving up and just walking to Brookline. T-RAGE!!!! In retrospect I should have used that as my Reddit username.

Ever go into a car, see a bum in the corner, quickly run back out to the next car only to see another bum in the car, then door closes. And if the bum has super B.O., it's the longest ride of your life. I hate that.

As someone who lives in SoCal I thought you meant you were taking ecstacy early in the morning and the ecstacy was a better line.. Was very confused for a bit until I remembered that this whole thread was about subways.

As someone who lived in NYC for 3 years and has visited both Korea and Japan, I was amazed at the cleanliness of the subways in Asia. Jaw-dropping for this American. You could eat lunch off one of the seats. Also, a notable lack of crazy feces-stinking homeless guy threatening to kill the voices in his head.

look at all the space in that train car! chicago's cta feels like sardine cans.

edit: I've lived in Seoul and ridden the green line during rush hour. The sheer number of people in the cars is ridiculous, but inevitable since the population of the city puts those types of demands on the transit system. Still, the system runs on time and Seoul's bus system is fantastic as well.

That said, I was referring the physical dimensions of the train car. The sidewall seating with the wide aisle space. Chicago's train cars are outdated and inefficient with row seating and narrow, single file aisles. If Chicago had modern train cars like Seoul, there would be plenty of space for everyone. Instead, people have to fight for space on train cars that were designed decades ago.

Obligatory Rant: I blame Daley for the mess that is Chicago infrastructure. History will prove that he fleeced this city and I await the day when he faces the consequences. He belongs in jail.

Man alive, that last guy was really adamant about staying on the train wasn't he. I didn't think there was any chance he was going to fit, but they managed to squeeze him on. That couldn't have been a comfortable journey for anyone.

From a wreck happening, to a medical emergency...imagine having a major emergency in the middle of all those people..hell I bet this is like prime real estate for molesters/sexual rpedators/maybe even murderers or getting assaulted.

Shinjuku is a lifetime experience for those of us who don't experience it daily. An insane massive throng of people.. It's like Grand Central station on steroids. Just finding the rail line you want is like navigating a labyrinth.

Truth. I've been pushed out of the subway for standing too close to the door on the green line during rush hour. I had to wait 2 more trains to get back on and transfer to the blue line. Crazy rush hour.

What impressed me about the trains in seoul wasn't how nice they were or how packed they got. It was how quiet they were. We were nuts to butts (we were coming from Dongducheon, but gave our seats to an elderly couple) but it was still as quiet as my university library generally was.

The size and speed of the cars are dictated by the width of the tracks, which was initially (and appropriate for their time) designed for slow-moving trains. Over time, the trains got bigger and faster but Chicago never bothered to update the tracks. A good analogy would be trying to fit a modern automobile with wheels designed 50 years ago. No matter how nice the car is, those old wheels only go so fast.

As you point out, it's not even the size of the car that's the biggest problem in terms of crowding; it's the layout of the seats. Having the seats face inward, rather than forward and backward, allows for a lot more room for people to stand and makes it significantly easier to get on and off the train. Plus, I'd rather stand in a wide aisle holding on to a stability pole than stand essentially single file grabbing the back of the seat someone's sitting on, but that might just be me.

The new CTA trains (which were debuted, then shelved when it turned out they had a eensy flaw that if left unattended could potentially, maybe cause the thing to derail) have evidently shown up again on the Pink Line, but the switch officially isn't scheduled to be complete until 2015 which, given that that's the CTA's estimate, is probably a goddamn lie.

It's very significant that you brought up derailment... The cta is stupidly trying to continue using narrow tracks that weren't designed for the speeds that newer trains are capable of. Hence the new train cars that are prone to derailment.

I realize there is a limited budget but the smarter thing to do would be to overhaul the existing cars to fit more people and focus the budget on building newer tracks.

I have taken buses to work and everywhere in Seattle for decades. Sometimes I wonder if those who designed the bus and seating arrangement have ever actually taken a bus anywhere for any amount of time. There are seats so close together you have to sit sideways to fit. There are seats where instead of a place to put your feet, there is a wall or worse, a wheel hub or stuff bolted to the floor.

Recently went to Seoul and rode the green line during a busy time and it was pretty crowded. However, I still think my most crowded experience was riding one of the subways in Japan coming back from hanami at Himeji Castle - I was squished into a corner by one of the doors and honestly could not move. It was rather amusing, to be honest.

The Times Square Shuttle in NYC usually has a fully immersive ad like this. A few weeks ago it was for that Hatfields & McCoys miniseries. The benches were turned into a row of wooden chairs and you were invited to pick a side. Very clever. Found a pic.

There was a man lying on the floor when I entered the train. All the other passengers were giving him a huge berth. He was dirty, looked like he hadn't showered in weeks, extremely tan, and his clothes were shoddy. He may or may not have been sitting in his own urine. He had a water jug with him. He tried to stand up from his prone position and the water spilled everywhere. People backed up further and were whispering in each other's ears about him, looking at him with disgust. The guy is crawling around there in his filth as people back away from him every direction he turns, and he's sobbing, screaming over and over "I am a person, too!! I am a person!"

The subway police came in and forcefully escorted him off the train. It was a surreal and heartbreaking experience.

Similar story from taegu, theres a man, not sure if he has legs or not. But he rolls around in the prone on a small dolly with a bucket. He is always wearing a ruber looking sack that pulls up to his waste. He is dirty and also looks so extremely upset. He rolls around at night with a bucket and collects change. But one day I day im sitting out side a coffee shop. And I see him roll up on the dolly. And he looks up at a couple of school girls. Who in return scream at him, calling him useless, and disgusting. He goes along not really effected by what they said. Im watching him roll away. Imagine thia guy no legs on a dolly, rolling down a downtown street where scooters and cars drive by. Sometimes with no room to even walk, this man is laying down on his belly pulling with his arms down tight streets of downtown taegu. Then, of course, the cops come up with the school girls. They say he lifted up their skirts and said dirty words. Which infact is a blatant lie. Me being a foreigner with my military hair cut. Try to tell the police, with a friend who is Korean. That those little bitches were lying. But it didn't work, and why would it, the had obvious disgust for this man too. More cops come and try to force this man with no lower legs to roll over and sit up. Hes is crying and screaming like a child. Either from pain or embarassment or both I dont know. Another cop with a car comes to pick him up and take him away. At this point every ounce of dignity this man has is gone. People walk by with disgust for this poor man, while he forced to be put in a police vehicle. I couldn't've watched anymore after they sat him up and tried to pick him up. It was disgusting to watch this obviously physically and mentally ill human be treated so terribly for no reason other than the fact that he was physically and mentally handicapped.

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